Changing road names doesn’t make sense

NOWADAYS, our politicians seem to have nothing better to do than to wage wars on renaming roads and streets and also making a big fuss on additional languages on signboards.

The latest fiasco is focussed on renaming Jalan Silibin in Ipoh to Jalan P. Patto.

While I fully appreciate the Pakatan Rakyat in recognising the vast contributions of the late Patto, I don’t see why they should choose Jalan Silibin which has been in existence for more than five decades.

The people around that area are so used to the road and people from outside Ipoh can easily identify themselves with Silibin Road.

I do not see any rationale on the part of the Perak government in causing inconvienience to the residents of Jalan Silibin, especially to those in the business fraternity.

And how about the ordinary folk? They have to change their addresses on their MyKad, driving licences and other important documents although it can be argued these things are quite minor and can be overcome with time.

To create a win-win situation and to recognise the sacrifices and contributions of the late Patto, I suggest the Perak government name a new housing scheme after the DAP stalwart and they can have so many Jalan Pattos in the whole ‘taman’.

If this is not feasible, when a new recreational park or centre is created, name it after him. By doing this, nobody will be inconvenienced and I am sure everybody will accept it gracefully.

If we keep changing existing names, there will be no end to it. A policy must be formulated to protect names of roads and other places so that it would not encourage further name changes when a new government takes over.

JAYARAJ KGS,
Sitiawan, Perak.